Evoking an Affection for Communication Partnerby a Robotic Communication Medium
Takashi Minato

Shuichi Nishio

Hiroshi Ishiguro

ATR Hirosi Ishiguro Lab. and JST CREST
2-2-2, Hikaridai, Keihanna Science City, Kyoto, 619–0288, Japan
minato@atr.jp
nishio@atr.jp
ishiguro@sys.es.osaka-u.ac.jp

Abstract—Robotic communication media can be an avatar ofcommunication partner. Therefore, the operative motions forthe media may alter the feeling towards the communication
partner. In recent studies with “Hugvie”, which is a humanshaped medium for talking in a hugging state, we have foundthat a favorable feeling towards conversation partner is evokedin Hugvie users when they speak to the partner. In this study,
we will investigate how the user-media interaction influences thefeeling of the user towards his communication partner.
Index Terms—Tele-operated robot, Robotic media, Sense ofpresence, Hugging, Affection.

I. R ESEARCH M OTIVATION
When we use a tele-operated humanoid robot as a communication medium, we can get a feelling that the robot is theperson we are talking as if we have a face-to-face conversation
with a real person. The important trait of robotic media is thata user can virtually have physical interaction with other person.
Focusing on this effect, it is possible to induce a strong senseof presence through a simpler device.
We then have developed Hugvie, a ”hug pillow” type ofcommunication media for talking in a hugging state (Fig.1.)
Its body is mainly a cushion that is formed in the shape of
simplified human to convey a sense of human existence. Whilehugging it, users speak to people in far locations through theircellphones inserted into a pocket in its head.
In recent studies with Hugvie, we have found that a favorable feeling towards a communication partner is evoked in theuser who is talking with his/her partner while hugging Hugvie,even though the partner is stranger to him/her [1]. Robotic
media is a communication tool but can be also an avatar ofcommunication partner; therefore, the operative motions forthe media may be confused with the behaviors towards thepartner. A hug is a behavior to show affection; therefore, weinfer that the person hugging Hugvie mistakenly thinks he/she
has a liking for the partner since he/she has a sense of hugging
the partner. In other words, his/her cause of action for themedia (hold Hugvie to use it) is misattributed to different cause(to show affection to the partner.) The misattribution of arousalsays that when a person is emotionally aroused by something,
the cause of arousal can be misattributed to something else
Copyright is held by the author/owner(s).
HRI ’13, March 3-6, 2013, Tokyo, Japan.

Human-shaped
hug pillow

Fig. 1.

8VHU¶VFHOOSKRQHLV
put in the pocket of+XJYLH¶V head

Talk by cellphonein the pocket ofHugvie”Human presence” transfer media “HugvieTM .”that is also emotionally arousing (it is known as “Love on aSuspension Bridge”[2].) In Hugvie case, it can be explained as
the misattribution of behavior. In this study, we will investigate
how the user-media interaction influences the feeling of user
towards his communication partner.
II. R ELATED W ORKS
Some studies have dealt with a hug in tele-communication;
however, most of them have focused on development ofdevises to allows a person to feel a hug from another person
in a remote place [3]. These devises aim at effects of being
hugged by the remote person but not hugging the remoteperson. Some other studies have tried to control an affective
feeling by using artificial stimuli. For example, Nishimura etal. [4] have shown that a preference towards female photos canbe enhanced by a heightened heartbeat controlled by vibration
stimulus. Differing from these studies, we focus on evoking
an affective feeling by user-robotic media interaction.
III. S UMMARY AND F UTURE W ORKS
Hugvie is a robotic communication medium that is effective
for intimate communication despite its simple feature. We
will study how the user-robotic media interaction alters thefeeling of the user. Hugvie can be an effective communication
media to support intimate interaction since robotic media canfacilitate close interaction (e.g, touch and hug).
R EFERENCES[1] K. Kuwamura, K. Sakai, T. Minato, S. Nishio, and H. Ishiguro, The Effectof Hugging on Telecommunication, In Proceedings of HAI Symposium,2012 (in Japanese).
[2] D. G. Dutton and A. P. Aron, Some Evidence for Heightened Sexual
Attraction Under Conditions of High Anxiety, Journal of Personality andSocial Psychology, Vol.30, No.4, pp.510–517, 1974.
[3] A. Gallace and C. Spence, The Science of Interpersonal Touch: An
Overview, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, Vol.34, No.2,
pp.246–259, 2010.
[4] N. Nishimura, A. Ishi, M. Sato, S. Fukushima, and H. Kajimoto, Facilitation of Affection by Tactile Feedback of False Heartbeat, In Extended
Abstracts of ACM CHI’12 Conference on Human Factors in Computing
Systems, pp.2321–2326, 2012.